Primarily a compact smart speaker, it also has a circular display with touch-screen. Priced at 12,999, currently, the speaker is available at a special price of Rs 10,499.

Just six months after Amazon launched smart speakers in India, the leading e-commerce player has now launched Echo Spot in the country. Primarily a compact smart speaker, it also has a circular display with touch-screen. Priced at 12,999, currently, the speaker is available at a special price of Rs 10,499.

The Echo Spot features a 2.5inch circular display, weighs 419 grams, has four built-in microphones to pick voice from any direction, and packs in a 1.4inch speaker. Amazon claims it to be a voice first device with a screen for additional information. The Echo Spot can be used for checking day's schedule, watching cricket highlights from ESPNcricinfo, voice shop with visuals from Amazon.in, see Sanjeev Kapoor Recipes, use as a nightstand with clock, play video news clips, make video calls, watch videos with Amazon Prime Video or Daily Motion, wake up to music alarms, and more.

This smart speaker with a screen can be placed anywhere in the home or even at the office desk. It can also be used for making an Alexa-to-Alexa voice-controlled video call or send a message, which can work between any two Echo Spot devices or on an Android or iOS smartphone with Alexa companion app.

"Echo Spot combines the popular design of the Echo Dot with the added benefit of a display," said Jayshree Gururaj, Director - Amazon Devices. "With the screen, Alexa adds an enriching visual experience to voice activation and control. We are excited to bring Echo Spot to our customers in India."

The smart speaker market in India is getting exciting. Almost six months ago, there wasn't even a single smart speaker officially available in India and now it's raining smart speakers.

Showing the importance of the Indian market, Amazon launched its smart speaker range in India in October last year. Amazon claims to have worked on the software and skills for over a year, resulting in Alexa having Indian accent and easily responds to one, knows popular Indian phrases and understands Indian languages too (it can communicate only in English as of now but Indian language support is for understanding movie names, songs, etc.). At the time of the launch, Echo smart speakers had close to 10,000 skills, which have now been increased to 15,000. Recently, Google too launched its smart speaker - Google Home - in India, which is likely to have Hindi support by the end of this year. Google is retailing Google Home for Rs 9,999 and Google Home Mini for Rs 4,499.